


Must be what I need

by Nerdofmanytalents



Series: As Long as You Follow [9]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Family, First Meetings, Gen, Return of the sassy kiddo!, Thea is excited to be an aunt guys, also apparently I make them watch lots of movies, no beta we die like men, we need to find a better activity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-09-30
Packaged: 2020-11-08 02:37:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,238
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20828018
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nerdofmanytalents/pseuds/Nerdofmanytalents
Summary: Thea gets to meet the reason for her brother's preoccupation of late. Its both exciting and terrifying.





	Must be what I need

**Author's Note:**

> I'm impatient again! This unbeta'd! I feel bad for my beta readers/friends because I pester them a lot. Once they have had a normal amount of time to look this over there might be changes, but I am jumping the gun because it keeps me motivated. And also because tomorrow is my birthday and I wanna post one last thing before I turn 30. XD
> 
> Also this section is dedicated to Bluedove, who has unknowingly kept the fire under me to write this segment because originally I wanted to skip it cuz I was not having great ideas how to do it. XD

Thea absently rubbed the silky tag of the plush dinosaur she had selected at the store between her fingers as she stared up at small condo building they'd pulled up to. She wasn’t sure what she’d expected, but for some reason, the boringly average, brown bricked building felt incredibly intimidating.

She startled when Oliver gently squeezed her knee.

“Hey. You alright there, Speedy?”

She opened her mouth to immediately retort that she was fine only to pause. She had been trying to make an effort to be more patient and open with Oliver, and clamming up defensively when meeting his apparent new family was not going to make a good impression. She bit her lip, swallowing around a sudden lump in her throat.

“What if he doesn’t like me? What if she doesn’t? I’m kinda a screw-up.” Thea finally confessed, looking down at the plushie again.

Oliver was quiet for a long moment, and when she chanced to look up, his expression was unusually soft and open.

“When I first met Jonas I...wasn’t in a great place. It was only about a month ago.” She felt her mouth drop open in surprise but didn’t interrupt. “And you know how it was. I’ve been struggling adjusting since coming home. Walter has been missing, you were struggling, too. I was feeling like a failure. And I even met him before Felicity told me I was his dad but the first thing he did was reach out to hold my hand. And so when Felicity told me I was his dad… He is just...so great, Thea. Felicity has brought him up so well, he’s so open and loving and I love it. In fact, I told him I might bring you over and he seemed really excited to meet my sister.”

“Really?”

“Of course,” he reassured. “And as for Felicity, she is one of the kindest, most loyal people I have ever met. She has been nothing but supportive of me since I got back, even before telling me about Jonas. She’s one of my closest friends. I think you’ll love her.” He squeezed her knee again. “Now come on. Ready to be an aunt?”

A grin broke out on her face. “Yeah.”

They got out and Oliver directed her up the stairs to the condo on the upper right side of the building. He reached and gave her shoulder one last squeeze before ringing the bell.

Immediately muffled through the door there was unintelligible yelling from a child and stomping feet, followed by the unmistakable call of a scolding parent, and Thea felt her heart speed up in anticipation. The next second, the door flung open and a blur of blonde curls immediately collided with Oliver’s legs.

“Dad!! I missed you!!”

Thea marveled for a second at the grin that broke out on Oliver’s face. Her brother loosened the boy and kneeled down next to him.

“Missed you too, buddy. I had to go get my sister from her work. Wanna meet her?”

“Yeah! Oh!”

The small child seemed to spot her and leaned into Oliver’s leg, seemingly shy. She crouched down to get a good look at him.

He looked nearly identical to all the pictures she’d seen in family photo albums of Oliver as a child. It made her heart hurt a little bit, thinking about how there had been this little piece of her brother out there in the world she’d never even known about while she’d been missing him every day for the last five years. She felt tears well in her eyes and she gave him a wobbly smile.

“Hey, Jonas. My name is Thea. I’m your aunt. I am so excited to meet you.”

The boys face lit up in a grin, shyness melting away. “Hi! Mommy says you’re my daddy’s sister and that makes you my aunt. But you’re not a bug.”

A laugh escaped her. “No! I’m not, but I always thought it was a funny word. I never had any aunts.”

“Me neither.” He cocked his head to the side curiously. “Are you okay? You’re crying.”

“I’m fine. I am just so excited to meet you.” She explained, wiping at her eyes with another chuckle.

“Me too! I’m glad you’re not sad. Sometimes I happy cry too. Are you here for dinner? Mom is making potatoes.”

“I am if that’s okay.”

“Yeah! Maybe we can play, mom says dinner is still cooking! I can show you my toys!”

“That sounds awesome!” She gushed. “But speaking of toys, I brought you a present.” She offered the plush dinosaur to Jonas.

“Oh wow!! A dinosaur! Green is my most favorite!” Jonas gushed, quickly taking the plush from her. “Thank you!!”

“Hey,” Oliver gently interrupted, gently nudging the newly acquainted aunt and nephew. “Let’s take this inside and see if your mom needs any help. She hasn’t met Aunt Thea yet.”

“Okay! Come on!” And suddenly she found herself being dragged inside.

Thea had a moment to take in the entry room as she and Oliver remove their shoes. It was warm and comfortably cluttered. Various pop culture memorabilia mixed with lots of pictures; most of them seemed to feature Jonas growing up and she desperately wanted to look at all of them. A few toys were cluttered next to the couch, a tablet in a kid-proof case was balanced on the arm of the couch. A pair of light-up shoes with cars on them were tucked next to a pair of women’s flats on a shoe shelf by the entry, and when Oliver put his own and Thea’s shoes next to them, she felt a little winded with unexpected emotion. This was a home.

“Felicity, do you need a hand?” Oliver called into the kitchen, ushering Thea and Jonas further into the room.

“No, I’ve got it!” called a woman’s voice from the next room. ”I can 100% reassure you that nothing is on fire and I’m at least 93% sure it’s all edible. I’ll eat the piece I burned, I can't feed your sister burned chicken, and I can’t feed YOU burned chicken and I’m not quite mean enough to foist it upon my child. Aaaand it now occurs to me that your sister is hearing all this and I’m going to stop babbling now and set a timer. Be out in a second!”

“Felicity, I’m sure it’s fine,” Oliver called with a chuckle.

“The smoke alarm went off again,” Jonas offered helpfully, earning a snort and a fresh grin from Oliver. He turned to Thea.

“Felicity doesn’t cook,” he explained. “At least not many things outside a couple of regular dishes. She’s nervous to meet you too, she wanted to make a good impression.”

Footsteps came from the kitchen accompanied by a rapid explanation.

“If this little delinquent told you the fire alarm went off he’s a little snitch and besides, that thing goes off if you leave the door open during a steamy shower so that totally isn’t even a fair indicator. Like real steamy, not like the kind of steamy shower you hear about in romance novels. Not that I’d know, it’s not like I read those...kind of...books.”

Already a little thrown by the rapid-fire babbling, Thea nearly did a double-take as Felicity finally came out of the kitchen.

When Oliver and her father had ‘died,’ Thea had painstakingly tried to do everything in her power to make herself not forget them. Her mother had been distant and despondent and to a degree, Thea had felt abandoned. So she had spent hours poring over photo albums and a few home videos they had at home to remember them both. Eventually, as she got older, she realized there was more than that at her disposal, and she had begun looking for anything she could find elsewhere. YouTube, PR videos from QC, news articles, and most prominently (especially in Oliver’s case), the tabloids.

She’d had a bit of a crisis for a while after delving into all that, a lot of things said about her brother seemed mean and unkind and that was hard to reconcile with her loving, doting brother. But as she grew, and started to understand things like dating, she had to acknowledge that Oliver had really seemed to like spending time with girls, and even more, she began to notice in the pictures that Oliver had had...well, he had a type. And in her mind, that type had been a lot like Laurel. Dark hair, sometimes tall, and usually at least a little model-ish. And apparently, when Oliver had told her about Felicity, that had been the image Thea had created in her mind.

Felicity was nothing like that.

For one thing, Felicity was tiny—nearly her own height. She also had blonde hair piled up into a tidy ponytail, with the slightest curl to the ends. Finally, she was clad in what Thea could only classify as nerd chic, a skirt-cardigan-blouse combo which was rounded out with glasses and oddly enough, an industrial ear piercing. She even caught sight of Felicity’s bare feet, noticing her nails were painted in a bright turquoise color. All in all, Felicity seemed so incredibly normal and NOT Oliver’s type, she was suddenly dying to know how the two of them ever got together.

“Um, hi Thea, it’s so good to meet you!” Felicity greeted with a shy sort of genuine enthusiasm and an embarrassed blush across her face. Thea couldn’t help but feel a smile creep across her face. Felicity made a sort of aborted motion a half-second later before grimacing. “Are you a hugger? I feel like a hug is the appropriate greeting for my son’s aunt but we’ve never met before and now I’ve made it awkward, especially because I just babbled about nearly setting my kitchen on fire.”

“I am definitely a hugger,” Thea assured, stepping forward for a quick hug. “At least for new family. I wish I could say Ollie told me all about you, but...well I just found out about you guys!”

Felicity’s expression was suddenly contrite. “That’s kind of my fault, I only told him about Jonas a little bit ago and I kinda wanted to get us all used to the idea ourselves before telling the whole world. But I’m excited he told you. He’s told me a lot about you and I can’t wait for you to get to know Jonas.”

“I’m excited to get to know you guys as well.”

Suddenly Jonas reappeared and began tugging on Felicity’s sleeve. “Mom, look at this awesome dinosaur she got me! Can I show aunt Thea the rest of my toys? Pleeeeease?”

Felicity smiled prettily down at Jonas before looking back to Thea. “That’s fine with me if she wants to. You’ve got just a couple minutes until food is ready.”

“Awesome!! Lemme show you my favorites. They’re the coolest!”

Without any further fanfare, Thea found her hand gripped in a smaller, slightly stickier one and being dragged down the hall as Jonas chattered and honestly, it was pretty fantastic.

“She seems a little nervous.”

Oliver looked over at where Felicity was setting out the side dishes for their mealiness the counter, watching her nod towards the bedroom he’d been idly listening to while pulling out the plates from the cupboard. He nodded.

“She is. I think she’s a little...intimidated. She said she was worried you two wouldn’t like her,” he said. Felicity’s eyes widened a bit, double-taking to the bedroom.

“Intimidated? By us? And of course we’ll like her, she seems wonderful.”

“I think it’s more what you two are to me, I think. She was really only starting to come around to the idea that I’ve changed a lot in the last few years, and now I have Jonas, who is my son, and you, who are obviously just as important because you’re both my son’s mother and my friend. I think she wants to make sure she fits in with everything new that’s happening, especially with how things are between her and mom, and with Walter being gone…”

“I understand,” Felicity said softly. “She’s been through a lot in the past few years, to say nothing of the years before that with losing you and your dad. She’s struggled, but I know she’s trying to do better. And I’d love for her to be part of Jonas’ family.” She smirked, barely hip checking him as she moved past him to head down the hall. “Plus it’s not like he’s getting any new aunts or whatever from my side of the family. There’s only so much spoiling a long-distance bubbe can do.”

Oliver couldn’t help the smile creeping on is face as Felicity went to the bedroom and ushered the aunt and nephew out to the dining table despite protestations. Dinner was served and as they all ate, Jonas kept up a cheerful and constant stream of chatter, attention primarily focused on his new aunt and asking her dozens of questions. Thea, in turn, seemed to finally be loosening up and was delighted to answer and throw in her own questions for Jonas and occasionally Felicity.

Once everyone had eaten their fill, Jonas petitioned for a movie and of course, won. Oliver made a playful protest when Jonas abandoned his usual cuddle spot at Oliver’s side in favor of Thea, earning twin raspberries from the parties in question before they broke off into giggles.

Tonight’s selection was a much more sedate animated film that Oliver found himself enjoying, a story featuring a Scottish princess learning the value of appreciating family. Jonas was not at all subtle in how much he enjoyed the bits with archery but never strayed into the territory of revealing anything compromising. Thea even managed to get some bonus points when she told Jonas about how she’d competed in archery during her early high school years, which Oliver was surprised to learn.

Finally, Jonas seemed to be losing the battle with exhaustion, letting loose jaw cracking yawns every few minutes, and once the movie had finished, Felicity shut the TV off.

“Alright, I know you’re excited you got to meet Aunt Thea today, but it’s bedtime.”

“But I don’t want to,” he whined, clinging to Thea’s arm. “I don’t want her to go, can she stay for a sleepover like daddy sometimes?”

“I have to go to work early in the morning, buddy,” Thea seemed to reluctantly admit. “But maybe if it’s okay with your mom, I could read you a story after you’re dressed for bed?” She looked to Felicity in askance.

“I think that sounds great,” Felicity assured. “Your dad can help you pick out pajamas and brush your teeth and pick out a book, if you go right now.”

“But I don’t even know where his pajamas are,” Oliver mock protested as Jonas began tugging him out of the room. Thea snickered and Felicity’s smirk was smug as she showed them out.

“You’ll figure it out, now scram; if you think I’m wasting this time to have an adult conversation with a person of my own gender, you’re insane. Go!”

Felicity grinned as the two boys ambled down the hall, Oliver’s play grumblings protested by Jonas’ enthusiasm. She turned to Thea with a wry grin.

“Normally Jonas passes out on Oliver and gets carried to bed. Then I have to wrestle him out of his clothes after he wakes up grumpy and uncomfortable a half-hour after Oliver leaves. I figure it’s finally his turn.”

“I’ll admit I didn’t know what to think but...Oliver is really good at this,” Thea admitted.

“He is,” Felicity assured. “He has been here 100% for Jonas since he found out. And it’s not exactly easy.”

“He’s a fantastic kid,” Thea quickly assured. “I just...before he was gone, Ollie was kinda immature, I guess? But he’s a dad, now. It’s kinda crazy.”

Felicity hummed in agreement, before pausing for a second.

“Thea, I just wanted to...Oliver told me you were nervous. Which is totally okay, because suddenly there’s this new person in your family who has a mom you’ve never met before and I’m not trying to be patronizing, but you’ve been through a lot lately. And that is super overwhelming.”

“It kinda is.” Thea looked down at her nails for a second, glancing back up. “And it’s not that you...that I…”

“I understand,” Felicity assured gently. “I’m not too much older than you, you know. I was only a few months older than you when I met your brother and I had been through some pretty intense loss around that time. And I know about the car crash and your community service, and all I care about is that you are safe and happy so you can be in Jonas’ life as much as you want. Things are kinda crazy in your life right now and I can’t promise more craziness won’t head your way cuz that’s how life is, but I want you to know if you need someone to talk to, I’d love to be there for you. It’s hard sometimes to talk to your family when you struggle. I know Oliver has trouble with it too and I like to think maybe I’ve helped a little there, too.”

“You have, you know? You and Jonas, I’ve noticed he’s been different lately. I thought he was dating or something.” Thea confessed. Felicity let out a bark of a laugh.

“Oh my god, no. Not that I don’t like him! Your brother is extremely hot, like…burning, there was a reason I wanted a piece of that back in the day so bad it led to some pretty reckless irresponsible sex and you did NOT need to hear that about your brother and I will be stopping in three, two, one…” Felicity took a deep breath and was thankful Thea didn’t comment on her suddenly red face even though she could see the younger girl's shoulders shaking with laughter. “What I’m trying to say is that Oliver is my friend. Our first meeting didn’t end great, but it led to the best person in my life. And so, no, we are definitely not dating. But we are kinda a little family now, and Jonas and I are thrilled to have you as part of it.”

“Thank you,” Thea said, voice a little choked up. “That means a lot.”

They were interrupted by Jonas shrieking laughter and moments later, a pajama-clad Jonas emerged dangling by his ankles as Oliver carried him in with a grin on his face.

“I picked a book!” Jonas proclaimed, still upside down but brandishing the book even as his face slowly pinked and his curly hair stood on end while he was held upside down. “Aunt Thea will you read to me?”

“Ooh I love Doctor Seuss books,” Thea assured, then frowned dramatically. “But I’m not sure I can read books upside down.”

“Daddy put me down!!”

“Okay.” Oliver jolted him as if dropping him, eliciting another shriek before depositing him on the couch next to Thea. He took a second to catch his breath before climbing into her lap. Oliver sat down next to him, and Thea opened the book.

“Wait! Mommy come sit too! It’s family story time!”

“Yeah,” Oliver assured, gesturing next to him. “Come sit, it’s family story time, Felicity.”

**Author's Note:**

> This bit was challenging for several reasons. I am trying to push myself to make chapters bigger rather than breaking them up into smaller segments as I have in past installments. As such, I'm worried it may have impacted the perspective flow, so if you didn't like it, let me know and I can see about fixing it or changing things up.
> 
> As always, I really hope you enjoyed, and I *love* hearing about what you guys liked or answering questions or fielding suggestions! Also, as per usual, if you wanna see more, subscribe to the series rather than this specific story.
> 
> If you want to, feel free to check me out on tumblr, I recently ended an obscenely long hiatus and I'm on there a bit. Who knows how long that will last; I always respond to DMs or tags tho! nerdofmanytalents.tumblr.com


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